“The Muslim man and the Hindu Rajput woman had checked into a hotel in Balotra, but soon after, the woman’s relatives arrived at the hotel and assaulted the man,” Indian Express quoted Barmer’s Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) Kailashdan Ratnoo as saying.

Talking to the daily, the owner of the hotel, Multan Parihar said,”Pahadu khan had checked in our hotel along with a middle-aged woman around 10 am. The woman was wearing a traditional Rajasthani attire. About half-an -hour later, the woman’s relatives somehow came to know that she was here and five persons reached the hotel.”

Parihar claimed that the men belonged to Shiv Sena and they were chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. They brutally assaulted him and if police had delayed, Khan could have been lynched. “While assaulting him, the mob said that it was a case of love-jihad,” Parihar informed Indian Express. Khan was rushed to Barmer hospital but as his condition deteriorated he was referred to Jodhpur for better treatment.